five star reads
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🐻Virtual Book Tour & Book Review & #Giveaway: Solid Gold Murder (Golden Motel Mysteries) by Ellen Byron

Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for Solid Gold Murder (Golden Motel Mysteries) by Ellen Byron! Today we are featuring a review of the second book in this delightful cozy mystery series. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews, and more! There is also… Continue reading
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It’s Hot: Books With Cold Covers (A Book List)

It’s been relentlessly hot and many of us are over this! Here’s four books with cold covers to take you away from the heat dome and into a frost-filled time of year. Under the Cocoon Moon (Olivia Penn Mysteries #3) by Kathleen Bailey I LOVE this series. And I threw readerly caution to wind and… Continue reading
A Book List, Ariel Lawhon, book blog, Book Review, books, Books with Cold Covers, cozy mystery series, five star reads, Jessica Fletcher, Kathleen Bailey, Murder She Wrote, Murder She Wrote A Killer Christmas, reading, Snowcaps, Snowcaps Skiing and Sabotage, Terrie Farley Moran, The Frozen River, Tonya Kappes, Under the Cocoon Moon -
Virtual Book Tour & Book Review & #Giveaway: Rocky Road to Murder (Coffee & Cream Café Mysteries) by Lena Gregory 🍨

Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for Rocky Road to Murder (Coffee & Cream Café Mysteries) by Lena Gregory! Today we are featuring a review of the sixth book in this delicious cozy mystery series. Stop by each blog on the tour for interviews, guest posts, spotlights, reviews, and more!… Continue reading
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🌟Mid-Year Favorites: 2025 🌟

As of June 30, 2025 I have read 186 books. Here are my top ten mid-year favorites in no particular order. It’s always interesting to see which mid-year favorites will make my full favorites list in January 2026. How To Read A Book by Monica Wood “Violet Powell, a twenty-two-year-old from rural Abbott Falls, Maine,… Continue reading
Adalyn Grace, ashley weaver, Belladonna, book blog, Book Review, book-reviews, books, Detective Aunty, five star reads, How to Read a Book, Jesse Q Sutanto, Karina Yan Glaser, Katherine Center, Kathleen Bailey, madeline Martin, mid year favorites, Monica Wood, one final turn, reading, romance, Sunrise on the reaping, suzanne collins, the booklovers library, the love haters, the vanderbeekers ever after, Under the Cocoon Moon, Uzma Jalauddin, Vera Wongs Guide to Snooping -
🎧Five Star Audiobooks: April, May, June 2025🎧

I love audiobooks and listen to so many books each month. Between January and June, I have listened to 70 audiobooks. I love being able to get in book time when I’m at the grocery store or folding laundry. Here are 10 I gave FIVE STARS in April, May, and June 2025. The Four Queens… Continue reading
Adalyn Grace, ashley weaver, audiobooks, Belladonna, book blog, Book Review, book-reviews, books, extra normal, fiction, five star audiobooks, five star reads, Gardiner Harris, How to have a killer time in DC, Jennifer Weiner, Jesse Q Sutanto, kate alice marshall, kate o’shaughnessy, Katherine Center, Kings River Life, lasagna means I love you, No More Tears, one final turn, reading, Rosanne Limoncelli, Sam Lumley, The Four Queens, The Griffin sisters greatest hits, the love haters, Vera Wongs Guide to Snooping -
🌟Monthly Favorites: June 2025 Five Star Reads 🌟

I read a lot this month. It’s the best escape because [gestures to the world around us]. Here are a few of my favorites from June 2025. My most read genre was romance, followed by cozy mysteries. I read mostly on my kindle this month as well. Extra Normal by Kate Alice Marshall Three cheers… Continue reading
ashley weaver, beard science, book blog, Book Review, book-reviews, books, Electra McDonnell, extra normal, five star reads, Historical Mystery, kate alice marshall, kate o’shaughnessy, Katherine Center, lasagna means I love you, middle grade, Monthly Favorites, one final turn, penny reid, reading, rom-com, romance, summer romance, the love haters, winston brothers -
Summer Vacation – Armchair Travel: A Book List June 2025

It’s so hot here in St. Louis and while I’m happy to be on summer break from the school year, our big trip happened in the Spring so we are home during these hot summer days. There’s a lot to love at home and sometimes I still want to escape. That’s where the joy of… Continue reading
A Book List, A Cyclists Guide To Crime and Croissants, amsterdam, anne claire, armchair travel, book blog, Book Review, books, California, California setting, Catherine Mack, christina lauren, Every Time I Go On Vacation Someone Dies, five star reads, Florida, How to have a killer time in DC, Italy, Katherine Center, Key West, los angeles, Michelle Chouinard, netherlands, rachel Lynn solomon, reading, Sam Lumley, San Francisco, southern france, Summer Reading, Summer Vacation, the love haters, The Paradise Problem, The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco, Washington DC, what happens in amsterdam -
Virtual Book Tour & Book Review: Funerals and Familiars (A Cozy Midlife Witch Mystery) Willowmere Mysteries by Carmen Radtke

Welcome to my stop on the Great Escapes Virtual Book Tour for Funerals and Familiars (A Cozy Midlife Witch Mystery) Willowmere Mysteries by Carmen Radtke! Today we are featuring a review of the first book in this cozy mystery series that is perfect for fans of cozy mysteries, magical mayhem, and heroines who believe it’s… Continue reading
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Five Star Reads: Monthly Favorites (May 2025)

Here are the titles I gave five stars in May 2025. A list of the 26 titles I read this month is at the end of this post. Tell me – what have you read that you enjoyed? Detective Aunty by Uzma Jalaluddin I’m a big fan of Uzma’s writing and I was so excited… Continue reading
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Time Travel Thursday: What Was I Reading Last Year At This Time (May 2025 Edition)

Time Travel Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Budget Tales Book Blog where readers take a look back at what they were reading this time last year (or the year before or the year before that…) Last year, towards the middle of May 2024, I had just finished Old Girls Behaving Badly (Old Girls,… Continue reading
About Me
Welcome! I started my career as a children’s librarian, later becoming a public library director and now I’m a stay at home mom. While my career might have changed, my love of reading has been a constant since I was in 4th grade, and I read over 200 books a year. I love talking about books and connecting readers of all ages with just the right book. Thanks for reading!
Recent Posts
- 🌸When I Think Of Spring: A Book List
- 🫖Virtual Book Tour & Book Review & #Giveaway: Arson Old Lace and Murder (Charlie Kingsley Mysteries) by Michele (PW) Pariza Wacek
- ☕The Sunday Salon: March 22, 2026 🌷
- 👰🏻Virtual Book Tour & Book Review & #Giveaway: Terror in Taffeta (Destination Wedding Mysteries) by Marla Cooper
- Picture Book Friday on a Thursday! Spring & March Favorites
